Government Accountability Office

By accepting cards, federal entities realise benefits, including more satisfied customers, fewer bad checks and cash thefts, and improved operational efficiency. In fiscal year 2007, federal entities accepted cards for over $27 billion in revenues and paid at least $433 million in associated merchant discount fees. For those able to separately identify interchange costs, these entities collected $18.6 billion in card revenues and paid $205 million in interchange fees. Federal entities are taking steps to control card acceptance costs, including reviewing transactions to ensure that the lowest interchangerates -- which can vary by merchant category, type of card used, and other factors -- are assessed. While the Visa and Master Card card networks have established lower interchange rates for many government transactions, some federal entities have attempted to negotiate lower ones, with mixed success. To identify savings from cards and other collection mechanisms, Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS) -- which handles revenues and pays merchant discount fees for many federal entities -- initiated a program in 2007 to review each entity's overall revenue collections. FMS has identified potential efficiency and cost saving improvements at the eight entities it has reviewed thus far, but has yet to develop a full implementation strategy -- including a timeline for completing all reviews, cost savings estimates, and resource assessment -- that could help expeditiously achieve program goals. Several countries have taken steps to lower interchange rates, but information on their effects is limited. Among the three countries the author examined, regulators in Australia and Israel intervened directly to establish limits on interchange rates, while Mexico's banking association voluntarily lowered some rates. Since Australia's regulators acted in 2003, total merchant discount fees paid by merchants have declined, but no conclusive evidence exists that lower interchange fees led merchants to reduce retail prices for goods; further, some costs for card users, such as annual and other fees, have increased. Few data exist on the impact of the actions taken in Mexico (beginning in 2004) and Israel (beginning in the late 1990s). Because of the limited data on effects, and because the structure and regulation of credit and debit card markets in these countries differ from those in the United States, estimating the impact of taking similar actions in the United States is difficult. Federal officials cited various benefits from card use -- which totalled over $27 billion in fiscal year 2007, a 51 percent increase since fiscal year 1999 after adjusting for inflation -- including the ability to make purchases more quickly and with lower administrative costs than with previously used purchasing methods. The banks that issue cards to federal entities also rebate a small percentage of their card purchase amounts; these rebates totalled $175 million in fiscal year 2007. Preventing inappropriate card use poses challenges, and the author and others have identified inadequate controls over various agencies' card programs. However, tools and data provided by the issuing banks now allow entities to review transactions more quickly, increasing their ability to detect suspicious transactions. Federal entities -- agencies, corporations, and others -- are growing users of credit and debit cards, as both "merchants" (receiving payments) and purchasers. Merchants accepting cards incur fees -- called merchant discount fees -- paid to banks to process the transactions. For Visa and Master Card transactions, a large portion of these fees -- referred to as interchange -- goes to the card-issuing banks. Some countries have acted to limit these fees. The author was asked to examine (1) the benefits and costs associated with federal entities' acceptance of cards, (2) the effects of other countries' actions to limit interchange fees, and (3) the impact on federal entities of using cards to make purchases. Among other things, the author analysed fee data and information on the impact of accepting and using cards from the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the General Services Administration, reviewed literature, and interviewed officials of major card companies and three foreign governments.

The nation's remaining grassland has several important benefits, such as providing land for grazing and wildlife habitat for many at-risk species. However, over the past 3 centuries about half of the grassland has been converted to other uses, principally cropland. In addition to losing important grassland values, such conversions may result in increased spending on federal farm programs, such as crop insurance, especially in marginal areas. This book examines (1) the extent of grassland conversions to cropland and the cost of farm program payments for these newly converted cropland acres; (2) the relative importance of farm program payments versus other factors in producers' decisions to convert grassland to cropland; and (3) any impact the Sodbuster conservation provision - which places soil erosion standards on certain converted land - has had on limiting grassland conversions. This book is an excerpted and edited edition.

GAO-09-3SP March 2009 Best Practices for Developing and Managing Capital Program Costs The ability to generate reliable cost estimates is a critical function, necessary to support the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) capital programming process. Without this ability, agencies are at risk of experiencing cost overruns, missed deadlines, and performance shortfalls-all recurring problems that our program assessments too often reveal. Furthermore, cost increases often mean that the government cannot fund as many programs as intended or deliver them when promised. The methodology outlined in this guide is a compilation of best practices that federal cost estimating organizations and industry use to develop and maintain reliable cost estimates throughout the life of a government acquisition program. By default, the guide will also serve as a guiding principle for our auditors to evaluate the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of government programs. Why buy a book you can download for free? We print this book so you don't have to. First you gotta find a good clean (legible) copy and make sure it's the latest version (not always easy). Some documents found on the web are missing some pages or the image quality is so poor, they are difficult to read. We look over each document carefully and replace poor quality images by going back to the original source document. We proof each document to make sure it's all there - including all changes. If you find a good copy, you could print it using a network printer you share with 100 other people (typically its either out of paper or toner). If it's just a 10-page document, no problem, but if it's 250-pages, you will need to punch 3 holes in all those pages and put it in a 3-ring binder. Takes at least an hour. It's much more cost-effective to just order the latest version from Amazon.com This book includes original commentary which is copyright material. Note that government documents are in the public domain. We print these large documents as a service so you don't have to. The books are compact, tightly-bound, full-size (8 1/2 by 11 inches), with large text and glossy covers. 4th Watch Publishing Co. is a SDVOSB. usgovpub.com

Federal funding to states supported over 200,000 youths in residential facilities in 2004, many seeking help to address behavioural or emotional challenges. However, federal investigations have identified maltreatment and civil rights abuses in some facilities. GAO was asked to provide national information about (1) the nature of incidents that adversely affect youth well-being in residential facilities, (2) how state licensing and monitoring requirements address youth well-being in these facilities, and (3) what factors affect federal agencies' ability to hold states accountable for youth well-being in residential facilities. GAO conducted national Web-based surveys of state child welfare, health and mental health, and juvenile justice agencies and achieved an 85 percent response rate for each of the three surveys. They also visited four states, interviewed program officials, and reviewed laws and documentation. This book is an excerpted, edited and indexed edition.

U. S. trade preference programs promote economic development in poorer nations by providing export opportunities. The Generalized System of Preferences, Caribbean Basin Initiative, Andean Trade Preference Act, and African Growth and Opportunity Act unilaterally reduce U. S. tariffs for many products from over 130 countries. However, three of these programs expire partially or in full this year, and Congress is exploring options as it considers renewal. The author was asked to review the programs' effects on the United States and on foreign beneficiaries' exports and development, identify policy trade-offs concerning these programs, and evaluate the overall U. S. approach to preference programs. To address these objectives, the authors analysed trade data, reviewed trade literature and program documents, interviewed U. S. officials, and did fieldwork in six countries. This is an excerpted and indexed version.